The writers of EastEnders have dropped the biggest hint yet that Fatboy, played by Ricky Norwood , could be returning to the soap after he turned up on a mantelpiece.

In a surreal scene in the soap last night, Dot, who’d just pranged Kim Fox’s car, had a cup of tea with Vincent and noticed him distracted by something on the mantlepiece. It turned out to be a picture of Fatboy.

Dot then questioned Vincent if he’d heard from him lately.

Dot and Fatboy on the mantlepiece (Image: BBC)

A shaken Vincent replied: “No I haven’t. I can see if I can find out how he’s doing.”

Dot replied with: “Would have been nice to hear from him.”

So what’s going on? Ricky revealed last week that he might not have been killed off - after all, viewers didn’t actually ever get to see a body in the boot when he was murdered on Boxing Day in a case of mistaken identity.

Ricky Norwood in Celebrity Big Brother (Image: Channel 5)

“I don’t know, to my knowledge, [that] I got told that he died in the boot,” explained Ricky.

“Do you know how many plot twists there’ve been in nearly every storyline that has happened since I have left that people are like ‘yes, you’re coming back!’?”

Ricky was suspended from the show in 2014 after a drugs and sex tape was leaked, axed in 2015 after five years on the show and filmed his last scenes in October last year.

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And Ricky’s admitted he’d love to make a return to the show, after a successful stint on Celebrity Big Brother earlier this year.

“I was a fan of Easties growing up and the fans know anything can happen in the Easties, so again, I’m open to opportunities.

“I’m never ever going to deny a phone call,” he told The Express . “I’ve got love, so much love for EastEnders, the production team, all the cast. We did some great work while I was there and they’re doing some great work now.”